Monthly Archives: March 2016

A proliferation of chocolate-flavored beers provides a twist for Easter quaffing

By Alan J. Wax

What will the Easter Bunny bring you? Some chocolate eggs? Better still, some chocolate beer?

Easter is the perfect excuse to indulge in as much chocolate as possible with no regrets. For all the adults looking to treat themselves this Easter weekend it’s the perfect time consider a beer made with chocolate.

There are plenty of choices as brewers increasingly have been wedding chocolate in its various forms with the maltiness of their brews. The result can be tasty.

Typically, chocolate beers are produced using dark chocolate or cocoa in various forms during different parts of the brewing process, depending on how much chocolate influence the brewer wants to impart.

Often, these beers are stouts. The malt flavors in stouts and porters often mimic flavors of dark chocolate and roasted coffee beans anyway, so if a brewer wants to take it the next level, they can add actual chocolate for aroma and (or) flavor. Chocolate beers can range in taste from a chocolate milkshake to burnt cocoa — depending on the brewer’s preference.

Chocolate beers can be the perfect pairing to dessert or even as a substitution for it. Try a sweet chocolate beer (like Boulder Shake) with drier desserts, say a black chocolate cake that’s more on the bitter side, or a creamy vanilla ice cream, so that the beer serves as a chocolate sauce on top.

Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock, which I first sampled in 2003, was among the first of this ilk. Nearly an opaque, ruby- black brew, I recall it as smooth with a lingering chocolate aftertaste.

A much sought after beer: The cocoa-infused Sexual Chocolate by Foothills Brewing Co., a brew pub in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is a Russian Imperial Stout that weighs in at over 9 percent ABV. It attracts hundreds of devotees to the brewery every year to get their hands on this special release. Unfortunately, I’ve not sampled it.

Barrage Brewing Co., in Farmingdale, Long Island, produces a couple of chocolaty brews. One is Yada Yada Yada, a brown ale that’s sort of Snickers bar in liquid form. Peanuts dominate the palate, which includes notes of caramel and chocolate. Barrage’s Assault ‘N Fudgery is Bosco (a chocolate syrup popular in the New York area for decades) gone boozy. It’s sweet and chocolaty and best slowly sipped.

To be sure, there are many others.

Evil Twin Even More Denmarkis a terrific ebony hued brew with a nose of orange peel marinated in alcohol. Orange and alcohol flavors mingle on the palate. It’s velvety with a bitter chocolate finish. It was sold only at Whole Foods Market.

Dogfish Head Theobroma, a chili beer with chocolate among its flavorings also is a winner and has been around since about 2008. It’s a cloudy, deep gold with a fruity nose and light chili pepper notes on the palate. The chocolate is subtle and the finish is sweet.

Dogfish Head Higher Math is definitely a beer for dessert. Murky brown, it exudes cherries and cocoa on the nose. It’s thick and mouth-coating, sort of like a high octane chocolate-covered cherry.

Boulevard Chocolate Ale is a richly flavored American-style strong ale that debuted in 2011 and is produced as a collaboration with Kansas City chocolatier Christopher Elbow as part of the brewery’s Smokestack Series. Deep gold in color, there is a complex meld of chocolate, caramel and vanilla notes.

Young’s Double Chocolate Stout, an import from England, hits you with its big chocolate nose, but the impression on the palate is light and silky smooth.

Off Color Brewing’s Dino S’mores is an opaque, black-hued, high-alcohol brew with notes of roasted coffee and chocolate on the nose. The palate suggests creamy marshmallow but that flavor fade fast. It’s a thick, chewy brew.

Funky Buddha Nib Smuggler Chocolate Porter, a winter brew from the Fort Lauderdale brewery, is a deep brown milk porter with a nose of chocolate syrup and notes of roasted grain. There’s chocolate and vanilla in each sip. The finish is dry malty finish.

There are many more out there, I‘m sure. If you find them give ’em a try. They’re unique and fun to drink.

Ricossa Barbera Appassimento on the table at Lupa Restaurant in New York

By Alan J. Wax

An Italian wine producer little known to many in the U.S. is about to launch a new style of Barbera. This new Piedmontese red, sold under the Ricossa Antica Casa brand, borrows the appassimento winemaking technique, which uses dried grapes and is popular in the Valpolicella district of another northern Italian wine region, the Veneto.

This new wine is made from grapes that are left to dry for several weeks prior to crushing. The result: a higher sugar-to-juice ratio that fills out the body and results in a rounder, more elegant wine and, in the case of the Ricossa wine, a softening of the acidity often associated with Barbera.

The wine, which I sampled at a luncheon sponsored by Ricossa’s owner, MGM Mondo del Vino, at Lupa Restaurant in New York City’s Greenwich Village, is an approachable, light-medium-bodied, dry wine with a smooth red-berry and cherry fruit. It’s drinkable alone — or with many foods. Ricossa Appassimento Barbera 2014, which has an ABV of 13.5 percent, will retail in the U.S. for about $26 for a 750 ml bottle.

The 2014 Ricossa is the first appassimento wine ever produced in the Piedmont and followed a year-long government approval process. Ricossa, which produced 80,000 bottles of the new style wine, until now has been sold mostly in the Midwest, according to brand manager Andrea Marazia,

Despite the similar process, this new-style Barbera is different from the rich, high alcohol Amarone wines made using the same process in Valpolicella. In the latter, the grapes are dried for four months — on straw mats — before vinification. Ricossa’s Barbera grapes are handpicked and dried in a ventilated room for at least three weeks. The fermentation takes place in stainless steel tanks with skin for about two weeks and then is matured, 60 percent in barriques and 40 percent in stainless, for eight months, followed by a minimum six months in bottle.

A shipment of the new wine, a group of wine writers were told at the luncheon, is at sea, heading to the U.S. the wine. The wine already is available in Canada and Europe.

Ricossa, which buys its grapes from a consortium of growers in the Piedmont, came up with the idea of using the appassimento process almost three years ago and working with the growers worked for a year to obtain government approval for the new DOC, or Denominazione di Origine Controllata (controlled designation of origin).

Barbera is the third-most-planted grape variety in Italy, outside of Sangiovese and Montepulciano and is known for its deep purplish hue, low tannins, high acidity and robust well-rounded flavors, making perfect for pairing anything from flavorful cheese to pasta to stewed or grilled meat.

Ricossa Antica Casa is named for a long-shuttered Piedmontese distillery that dated back to the early 1800s. The name was acquired by MGM Mono del Vino to produce a range of classic Piedmontese wines, including Ricossa Barolo DOCG, Barbera d’Asti DOC, Moscato d’Asti DOCG, and Gavi DOCG, that are considered good values.

A group of winemakers founded MGM Mondo del Vino in 1991. It was acquired in 2013 by the Mondodelvino Group SpA. The parent company operates in many areas of Italy, producing a wide variety of wines under a number of labels including those of major retailers. The company produce 25 million 750 ml bottles and 4.5 million 3L boxes of wine each year, which are export to over 40 countries.

Though best known for their reds, Ricossa produces one still white wine, a Gavi, made from 100 percent Cortese. It’s a dry, crisp wine. It also makes a delightful, soft uncloying, slightly frizzante Moscato d’Asti.